Tuesday, 7 June 2016

The mother of the Form Four Harare Girls High School pupil, who was recently ran over and killed by a negligent commuter omnibus driver, yesterday collapsed in court and was rushed to hospital.

Evelyn Gomba had attended the court hearing of Wadzanayi Mabika (41), who killed her 17-year-old daughter Jocelyn and seriously injured Odwell Mabanga before he fled to South Africa.

Gomba died on the spot while Mabanga sustained serious spinal injuries and has since been discharged from hospital. Before she could sit down, Evelyn started shivering and collapsed, prompting magistrate Ms Nomsa Sabarauta to adjourn court.

She was taken outside with the help of the court orderly and was rushed to a local hospital by a relative, where she was admitted.

Mabika later appeared before magistrate Mr Elijah Makomo charged with six counts: culpable homicide, reckless driving, failure to stop after an accident, failure to report an accident within 24 hours, failure to ascertain if any person is injured or killed after an accident, failure to render assistance after an accident.

He pleaded guilty to all the six counts and was convicted.During plea recording, Mr Makomo asked Mabika why he failed to stop his vehicle when he saw the pedestrians and in response, he said he wanted to avoid another vehicle which was reversing in front, and mistakenly accelerated.

“I was not running away from anyone but what happened is that there was another vehicle which was reversing coming towards my vehicle, so when I tried to avoid it, I then accelerated by mistake and failed to control the vehicle,” he said.

Mr Makomo further asked why he failed to stop his vehicle after hitting the pedestrians, and Mabika did not give a satisfactory answer but stammered saying, “I did not know that the now deceased was trapped underneath the vehicle. I thought I had hit her and she had fallen down by the road side.”

“Are you confirming that you were speeding or driving at an excessive speed against one way?” Mr Makomo asked and Mabika confirmed that he drove recklessly.The matter was rolled over to today for mitigation and aggravation.

The prosecutor Mrs Lionellah Chitanda-Matowa assisted by Mr George Manokore told the court that on May 23 at around 5pm, Mabika was driving his vehicle due south along Leopold Takawira facing oncoming traffic.

The now deceased Gomba and the injured Mabika were walking along a pavement.When they got to the intersection of Samora Machel Avenue and Park Lane, they were knocked down by Mabika.

Gomba was dragged while underneath the vehicle, and Mabika only stopped after he had hit a pole.

He disembarked from the vehicle and disappeared from the scene.Gomba died on the spot after sustaining head injuries and had fractures on both hands and legs.

Mabika fled to South Africa and police arrested him at Beitbridge Border Post with the assistance of his niece Jane Ngano, who lured him back to Zimbabwe on the pretext that he was supposed to collect money from a truck driver. herald